The House of Hades: Journey to the Doors
by nargles lurk in the mistletoe
Summary: This is my version of The House of Hades. This story follows Percy and Annabeth's journey through Tartarus as well as the others' journey to the Doors of Death. PERCABETH! Some Lazel. This is mostly a Percabeth story, though. Narrarated by Percy, Hazel, Nico, and Annabeth. DISCONTINUED!
1. Percy

PERCY

Percy and Annabeth fell for what seemed like an eternity. The sliver of sunlight still shining in from the opening above was shrinking quickly. He held Annabeth tightly, refusing to let go. He never wanted to lose her again. Annabeth's eyes were squeezed shut. Percy couldn't stand to see her upset. He once again felt a sense of pride in knowing that Annabeth had accomplished a task that countless others had failed at through the ages and outwitted a giant spider despite her arachnophobia, all with a broken leg.

Eventually they landed on the hard, rocky ground. They were surrounded by complete darkness. He helped Annabeth fix her makeshift ankle brace that had begun to come off during their fall. Then they sat there in silence, pondering what they would do next.


	2. Hazel

HAZEL

Hazel was confused. She loved Frank, but at the same time she loved Leo, but she had also loved Sammy, so was it wrong to love Leo? Or would Sammy be happy? Did she love Leo for him, or because of Sammy? But there wasn't much difference between the two, and although she knew each was their own individual person, their personalities were eerily similar, so it was only natural that she would love the same traits in Leo that she had in Sammy.

Nico's groan jerked her out of her thoughts. Nico lay unmoving on the deck, asleep. After being trapped in a jar for a week, it was only logical that he would be exhausted. Everyone was gathered on deck, silently mourning the loss of Percy and Annabeth. No one was sure how they were to carry on. Aside from Jason, they were the most experienced demigods, having been on many quests and battled countless monsters. They had undeniably been the leaders of the quest.

Hazel was sitting by Frank, Jason and Piper were standing by the railing of the ship, looking out to sea, and Leo sat in the corner alone. Hazel stood and wandered over to Leo, ignoring the scowl forming on Frank's face.

"What's up?" she asked, regretting her question as soon as it left her mouth. The same thing was "up" with all of them. But Leo's answer was not direct.

"It's my fault. I opened the cookie. Nemesis warned me there would be a terrible sacrifice. An eye for an eye, two lives for..." he spotted Hazel and decided not to finish the thought. He didn't need to. Hazel completed his sentence.

"Two more," she finished. "Two lives for two more. You saved me and Frank, so the sacrifice was Percy and Annabeth."

"You see? It was my fault," he explained.

"Your _fault_? You saved our lives. How can you call that a fault?!" she exclaimed. "You saved us," she repeated. "You couldn't have known what it would cost. Besides, Percy and Annabeth are alive. I can feel it, and so can Nico. You have nothing to be ashamed of and no reason to blame yourself."

Leo frowned, obviously still dissatisfied. "It's dinnertime," was all he said. Hazel sighed. "Dinner!" Leo announced once again so that the others could hear. Jason shook Nico awake, and he, Coach Hedge, and the remaining five of the seven children of the prophecy lumbered towards the dining hall.


	3. Nico

**Sorry it took me so long to update... I've been kind of busy... Thank you Hermione charms and sokkarocks for reviewing and thank you to everyone who favorited and followed!**

NICO

Dinner that night was awkward. Six demigods picked at their food, three of whom were eyeing Nico suspiciously, while a satyr attempted to arm wrestle with himself. Finally Piper broke the silence.

"We'll never accomplish anything if we just sit around and mourn! Percy and Annabeth are waiting for us, and if we don't finish this quest, we're letting them down. They would want us to go on without them. They wouldn't want their sacrifice to be for nothing."

Leo muttered something barely audible, Jason glanced up wearily, Hazel cocked her head to the side as though considering what Piper had said, and Frank continued to pick at his food.

"Piper's right," said Nico. "Percy and Annabeth will stay strong, and they want us to do the same. We can't give up."

"They're in Tartarus," Leo reminded him. "How do you expect them to 'stay strong' in dead monster land?"

Nico frowned. "I'm not sure that it's best to describe it as 'dead monster land.' True, the monsters were killed, but they didn't exactly die..."

"Let's not argue about the dead versus not-so-dead monsters," advised Hazel. "We need to..."

Exactly what they needed to do, he never found out, because at that moment a not-so-dead monster landed on the deck and shook the ship. Swords were drawn and daggers unsheathed as a small mob of teenage demigods exited the dining hall and rushed towards the commotion. Coach Hedge ran off to find his club. On the deck was a giant bull.

"The Minotaur," mumbled Nico.

"Great," groaned Jason.


	4. Annabeth

ANNABETH

Unfortunately, Annabeth had landed on her ankle when they hit the bottom of the chasm.

"Ow!" she exclaimed. Percy looked at her with an expression of concern on his face. He examined her ankle.

"I think the brace came undone during the fall," he told her. He lifted her leg and adjusted her improvised cast, then tightened the leather straps that held it in place. She gripped his arm tightly. He dug some ambrosia out of her backpack.

"Don't you think we should save that?" she asked.

"Don't be ridiculous," he said. "You need it."

"Fine," she sighed. He handed her a square of ambrosia. It sent a warm feeling flooding through her.

"Better?" Percy asked.

"A little."

"Good." He wrapped his arms around her. "It's going to be okay," he told her. "I won't let anything touch you."

She almost laughed. "Percy, this is _Tartarus_. Nothing even vaguely human has ever been here, and for good reasons. It's full of un-killable monsters."

"Nico DiAngelo's been here," muttered Percy.

Annabeth gaped at him. "What?"

"He told us so on the boat, on the way to Arachne's lair."

"Did he say anything about it?" she asked.

"Um, it's horrible and he barely escaped with his sanity," he replied.

"That's reassuring," muttered Annabeth.

"It will be fine," Percy told her. "I won't let anything touch you."

He kissed her, and in that moment she didn't care where they were. She knew he would never leave her side, and she was happy. Even in the depths of Tartarus, she felt happy, because she had her Seaweed Brain with her, and she knew he would protect her.

They broke away from their kiss. Annabeth clung to Percy's hand like her life depended on it.

"It's time to find those Doors of Death," she proclaimed.

Then they heard a hissing in the background. They turned to see a giant Chinese finger cuff, and ran for their lives.


	5. Annabeth 2

**I know I haven't updated in FOREVER. I'm sooooo sorry! I get the WORST writer's block... Thank you Imagination Queen for favoriting, Anastasia Laurels 2.0, Darkrexbeta, LovesLeoValdez, Ninja Citrus, and prankprincess123 for following, and Hermione charms, "Guest", sokkarocks, prankprincess123, and LovesLeoValdez for reviewing. Thank you so much! Your encouragement means so much to me! Like all fanfic authors, I love reviews, followers, and favoriters! **_**Hint, hint... **_**I didn't realize until I was done writing that the chapter before this was also Annaebth, and I've been intending to switch every chapter, but whatever. It works.**** Enjoy chapter 5!**

**Annabeth**

Once Annabeth and Percy were safely away from the Chinese finger trap of death, they stopped to rest against a wall of black rock, which, considering that that was what Tartarus was basically composed of, there was really no other place they could have rested...

"Let's hope Tartarus decides to keep the nasty surprises to a minimum," said Percy, who was breathing heavily.

Annabeth was shocked. "You know that Tartarus is a person too? I would've thought you thought it was just a pit! Who knew that all that kelp in your brain actually made room for some knowledge!"

Percy frowned. "What?"

"Never mind," Annabeth sighed.

"Come on, Wise Girl, you should know better than to think I have a brain!" he joked.

"You do have a brain, Percy. A pretty good one, actually. It's just that you try to disguise it, but in your own way, you're brilliant," she explained.

"In my own way?" Percy repeated, giving her an adorable puppy-dog pout. She laughed and planted a kiss on his cheek.

"Hey, I called you brilliant. If I were you, I'd just take it and be pleased."

Percy rolled his eyes and grabbed her hand. "Let's go, Wise Girl. The Doors await us!" He looked up and dramatically thrust out the hand not gripping Annabeth's. She giggled. Then her expression turned dark.

He dropped his goofy act immediately. "What's wrong?" he asked, his voice full of concern.

"It's just... who knew you could laugh and be happy in the darkest place on Earth?"

"You can be happy anywhere you go," he replied. "It depends on the way you look at life. As long as I have you, I'm happy."

"Since when are you suddenly the wise one?"

He shrugged. "I guess you're rubbing off on me."

She looked up into his sea green eyes, eyes she knew better than her own. She had been telling the truth: in his own ridiculous way, he _was _smart. But his ridiculousness was one of the things she loved so much about him. She needed him to balance out her life. She was serious, and he... wasn't.

He caught her staring at him. "What?"

"Nothing. Let's go."

Together they walked down the winding path through the darkness, and in a weird way, she felt happy.


End file.
